Shanghai’s Latest Eateries Redefine East-West Fusion

In Shanghai’s Jing’an district, a quiet culinary shift is underway. Restaurants like Yaya’s, tucked away on Tongren Lu, are rejecting the old East-West binary in favor of a more integrated approach. The premise is simple: Italian techniques married with Chinese flavors, resulting in dishes that feel neither strictly one nor the other.

Yaya’s was founded by chefs Dan Li and Andrew Moo, who identified a gap in the city’s dining scene. High-quality pasta in Shanghai was either very expensive, overly traditional, or relegated to a café sideshow. They wanted to center pasta in a casual, affordable setting, with a focus on al dente texture—the “to the tooth” bite that gives Yaya’s its name.

The team behind Yaya’s has since opened Nono’s, a standalone concept helmed by chef Chris Zhu, formerly of canteen and wine bar Blaz. Nono’s doubles down on the Chinese-Italian axis, further exploring the intersection of these two culinary traditions.

According to Andrew Moo, the connection between pasta and noodles felt natural in China. Both are deeply comforting staples, and the restaurant’s approach has resonated with diners. Since opening, Moo notes, more pasta-focused venues have emerged in Shanghai, suggesting a growing appetite for this style of cooking.

This new generation of eateries represents a shift toward subtlety in fusion cooking—not novelty for its own sake, but a thoughtful blending of techniques and flavors that respects both traditions.